My New Car!

I finally got myself a car! At last! I went, I saw and I bought....a car....all by myself!

Over the years, the cars that I have had .....2 were Company cars that I was driving and the last one that I had, was bought after I got my friend to see, check and comment on it.

This time I had nobody with me. Forced to do things all by myself ...something which tradionally has been a man's domain....it's been tough deciding.....which make/brand....model...features. Now that I have done it all by myself and commended by my male friends as "good choice", this purchase has been real sweet!

Screw it, Let's do it

The Dept Secy dropped off the latest issue of "Qatar Today" on my table couple of days back. Flicking through, came to the Books Review Page when I spied this fantastic title, "Screw it, Let's do it" by Richard Branson. Through the years, reading Richard's exploits and how he took on British Airways (a Giant!), his attitude, his spunk, I have been a great admirer of the man. This Book is really a quick read but gives wonderful insights to the philosophies and leadership that drive the man and the Brand. It's utterly absorbing and above all inspiring!

A quick run of the chapters...in a nutshell!

1. Just Do It! - Believe whatever you want to achieve can be achieved.

2. Have Fun! - Have a positive outlook and when something stops being fun, move on.

3. Be Bold - Take calculated risks.

4. Challenge Yourself - Aim high, try new things.

5. Stand On Your Own Two Feet - Rely on yourself. Chase your dreams but live in the real world.

6. Live the Moment - Love life and live it to the full.

7. Value Family and Friends - Put Family & Team first. Money is for making things happen.  

8. Have Respect - "Respect is how to treat everyone, not just those you want to impress."

9. Gaia Capitalism - Gaia is the Greek version of "Mother Nature" or the Earth Goddess. Go Green!

10. Sex Appeal - Create excitement in everything you do.

11. Be Innovative - The system is not sacred. Think creatively.

12. Do Some Good - Change the world, even in a small way.

13. Pow! Shazam! - Richard's dream of flying civilians to space with Virgin Galactic's spaceship! Anything is possible!

14. Think Young - Have a youthful approach to life!

I just did it! I quit my job.....no longer fun it was.....and am moving on! What am I going to do next? Where will I be? Only Time will tell!

PS:- Look for clues where I am in my Future Posts! :)

My Day!

It's my Birthday....once again.  Day was stress free....No Boss and it's the start of the weekend! I wore my uber sexy heels from the Korean Designer Suecomma Bonnie who makes handmade shoes made from luxurious materials imported from Europe. "I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot!"

Evening was fantastic....flowers, gift, cake and sumptous dinner....I had it all!

Last but not the least, thanks to "Facebook", I am overwhelmed with wishes!

I quit!

Had enough of the circus, so this morning I quit my job. Not a hasty decision.....I had been thinking about quitting for quite sometime now.

Thought I would first have an job offer in hand and then quit but just couldn't wait as another year passes by. What professionalism can you expect from a Company, owned by a Sheikha and is being run by one of her Secretary?! Yes, welcome to the Middle East!

Have given a month's notice as per my contract. The hunt for another job is now seriously on. If I don't have a job by Jan 2011, am thinking of terrorizing my lil nieces (5 of them!) if I were to go and live with my Parents! This would be really wicked of me....so wish me luck for a New Job with a Fat Salary soon!

Kunafa!

Coming to the middle east, I was introduced to this cheesy & sweet dessert called Kunafa for the first time about 8 years back in Kuwait and I simply felt in love with it! I have always loved cheese....all kinds... so it was obvious that I would favor this cheese based dessert!

Kunafa is a traditional arabic dessert and is quite popular particularly around Ramadan. Don't know why but during Ramadan many shops would make this dish in huge pans and just the look of it would be so tempting!

By far the most delicious Kunafa I have ever tasted were the ones in Kuwait. The cheese were real soft with a crispy layer of vermicelli on top and were bright orange in color topped off with sugar syrup. It was sweet but not so sweet and I could easily polish off quite a bit of it.

Two weeks back, knowing my love for this sweet dessert my friend prepared Kunafa just for me. The cheese was too little and it was more of the vermicelli. The vermicelli was too hard and it was tough to chew. It was a disaster but I was sincerely touched by the thought that went behind it. I will never ever forget this Kunafa!

Then today, I passed by Carrefour and I spied Kunafa in the delicatessen section! It wasn't that good to look at and now having tasted it, it wasn't that good at all!

One of these days, I shall learn how to make Kunafa. One of these days....

Simply Delicious - Strawberry Cake!

I have always loved Strawberry & Cream. So, it was a delicious surprise when one of the Store Girls brought in a huge slice of Strawberry Cake to celebrate her engagement.

It was layers of cake with cream frosting in between and topped with sliced fresh strawberries! Very pretty to look at and very good to eat! Yummy!

My Pollignanno Al'Mare

Pollignanno Al'mare, a Brazilian Brand that we carry in our Store is not only sexy, feminine but comfortable! The Brand takes it's name from the small fishing village Polignano a Mare in Italy. It was launched in 2001 by two sisters Fernanda & Juliana.

I just love my Pollignanno Sandals!

Nonsensical emails from my Boss (NFD) - 6

Your mailbox is full because you are stupid.

830MB

Your mailbox can no longer send messages as your emails are really boring. Please reduce your mailbox size. Delete all items because you don't need them, nobody is interested in them. Empty your mailbox and empty your Deleted Items folder and concentrate all of your attention on Facebook.

Reply to NFD - 5

From: Betty@forwarders.com
Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 4:14 PM
To: NFD
Cc: CAF; MH; SH
Subject: Expeditors Mileage Programme

Britney Spears is out of the office due to excessive banging of her head on her desk resulting in immediate need of an MRI (this too, will be debited to all involved awards programme holders) and will consequently be committed to the nearest mental rehabilitation facility (we've been advised of a good one at Mercedes R/A in Zai building).

Please refrain from any further emails in this regard as they will go unanswered.

Should you feel the need to express condolences to her condition, you may offer this in the conveniently setup form, in triplicate, on the Aramex website (which sometimes works).

Nonsensical emails from my Boss (NFD) - 5

From: NFD
Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 3:14 PM
To: 'Betty@forwarders.com'
Cc: CAF; MH; SH
Subject: RE: Expeditors Mileage Programme

Dear Ms Spears,

Noted that you have debited our account.

I have read through the scheme conditions and note that we are now at the Cardboard Level; we await our new cards for our members.

Also I see that our gift entitlement is now limited to an eraser and a cheque book cover, the latter will hardly be used.

As your graphic illustration shows the peak and trough of our situation we have been engaging with some other Logistics providers to assess their Gift schemes and found the following:

1. Expedalbikers - " you'd be surprised how slow we go" are offering lower rates but can't guarantee any delivery this year.

2. Bodgit and Leggit - "You'd be surprised if it arrived" are offering 500-1 odds on it arriving at all

3. S/Crew-U - "We'd be surprised if it arrived" are offering a hand crafted paperweight featuring the extended middle digit for business cards ease of use.

4. Viagra Falls - "We stick out for you" are offering a tripod

Kind Rear Guards
Mr.Nil Points

+++++ Kindly note that our weekend - is longer than yours ++++++

Reply to NFD - 4

From: Betty@forwarders.com
Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 12:22 PM
To: NFD
Cc: CAF; MH; SH
Subject: Expeditors Mileage Programme

Thank you, Mr. NFD, for your recent request relating to the Awards account at Expeditors International.

Unfortunately, the individual that was supporting the awards offering was recently (as of yesterday), relieved of her duties and facing criminal charges for offering too much for too little.

In a recent Arthur Anderson audit that was conducted (perhaps you are familiar with this strong financial auditing organization - they were the primary accountancy and auditing team for Enron), it was established that rewards were given out for decreasing spend/points accumulation. This indication was clear in preferential and subjective treatment to certain clients.

We've attached a 10 month graph of your activity for your convenience.

Therefore, we have actually debited you for the awards given. Although we understand the inconvenience this may pose to your organization during these dire global economic times, we appreciate your understanding in the matter.

And, unfortunately, the 20% discount coupons previously received from NBK were not sufficient to cover this need.

We look forward to your response and appreciate your involvement in the Expeditors Awards Programme.




Betty
Director of Points and Various other Crap that no one wants to handle
Email: figure.itout@expediters.net
Telephone: 1-800-not-gonna-happen

Nonsensical emails from my Boss (NFD) - 4

From: NFD
Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 12:04 PM
To: MH; Betty@forwarders.com
Cc: SH; CAF
Subject: Expeditors Mileage Programme

Thanks for the flask, very usefull in Ramadan.
Can you send us your corporate catalogue so we know what we are entitled to for our next gift?
Not sure how many points we have so far - please check our balance of Expeditor miles, I guess it's based on miles our cargo travels. So we should be up to bronze level?

"You'd be surely prized on how far we go for you" is your corporate tag line?

Cheers
Retail Stationery Collector

+++++++ Kindly note that Sunday - Thursday is our weekend ++++++

Happy @ work?

This morning, one of my colleague from the Buying Dept forwards me this picture with the caption "Happy @ work?"

I immediately replied, copy to my Boss.
"Ha ha ha! Good one! Place an order immediately!
Boss, I highly recommend these funky contraptions!"

Nonsensical emails from my Boss (NFD) - 3

Dear All,

I have asked Ninny to supply me with the attached every Sunday.

In anticipation of ‘the business’ checking our attendance records kindly start sticking your finger in and out when you are gracing us with your presence for the purpose of using petty cash for coffee etc and surfing the net to update Facebook and apply for jobs.

See attached excel frequency of fingering taking place on a daily basis.

Starting from the top analysis shows that:
· Some of us forget to finger in
· Some of us forget to finger out
· Some of us are not fingering at all - Mohammad see Ninny for re-training
· 3 people are awarded the Golden finger for last week for fingering in and out every day
· Some days there are two Ninny’s in attendance ?
· Insuff.D. means you do not have enough D. on that day.

Kindly finger in daily and finger out daily from today onwards and retrain your staff accordingly.

One way to help each other to remember to use the finger technique is to greet each other and saying goodbye to each other by sticking up one or two fingers to your colleagues depending on your country of origin.

If Finger scanning usage does not increase we will move to an alternative entry/exit scanner below.

Rgds Dr.Digit


# We have a finger scanner at the entrance/exit . Names have been changed for the obvious reason!

Trading Meeting

The ongoing global recession has also affected the Middle East though the outside world thinks that the Middle East has been untouched by it! News from my former company in Kuwait have been pretty depressing with many of the guys that I knew losing their jobs!

My Boss has now made it quite clear that we too need to be prepared for any eventuality. Below was the the agenda of today's meeting.

Nonsensical emails from my Boss (NFD) - 2

From: Betty@forwarders.com
Sent: 07 April 2009 20:42
To: NFD
Subject: Re: Order Management Process Flow JFDI Umbrella meeting

Its is clear to me that you are not exerting enough control over forces within your organization to not assume things that are not theirs.

It is either that or perhaps your addiction to crunchy sugar dough is something that must seriously be considered.

So actually, our contribution or lack thereof to your addiction to this deadly baked substance could be both positive and negative.

Please consider this view when discussing with said umbrellas and hatstands. I'm sure they'll advise likewise.

Sent from Betty's Blackberry


----- Original Message -----
From: "NFD" [nfd@jfdi.com]
Sent: 04/07/2009 05:21 PM GMT
To: Betty
Subject: Re: Order Management Process Flow JFDI Umbrella meeting

My prescribed therapy is actually to work at JFDI and to seek serious help from sources outside. Thank you for contributing to my well being, but I am still suffering from biscuititous notenufficus. Main symptom is a belief that fellow staff are eating them and not me!

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Qtel

-----Original Message-----
From: Betty@forwarders.com
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 17:26:19
To: NFD<nfd@jfdi.com>
Subject: Re: Order Management Process Flow JFDI Umbrella meeting


U really need serious help

Sent from Betty's Blackberry


----- Original Message -----
From: NFD [nfd@jfdi.com]
Sent: 04/07/2009 07:14 PM ZE3
To: Betty
Subject: RE: Order Management Process Flow JFDI Umbrella meeting


Hi Betty,

Apologies but the JFDI Umbrella is not available, have had quite a fruitful discussion with the JFDI Hatstand instead.

Please advise if there are other inanimate objects you would like me to talk to on your behalf.

Worried regards
Dr.NFD

________________________________________
From: Betty@forwarders.com
Sent: 07 April 2009 12:52
To: SFH; MH; NFD
Subject: Order Management Process Flow

Team JFDI -

Attached is the flow that we agreed on today is the very basic flow of an order in the JFDI world.
(See attached file: JFDI ORDER FLOW.pdf)

What do we do now?

1st stage, 2nd stage, blah blah blah....

NFD - when you're ready to present this product/service to the JFDI umbrella, let me know. We'll be ready. We'll chat about a lunch day as well for the next 2 weeks.

Betty

Nonsensical emails from my Boss (NFD) - 1

From: Betty@forwarders.com
Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 10:05 PM
To: NFD
Subject: Unstuffing + warehousing last 20'

Oh hell - now I just read the rest!!! Oh hell oh hell I'm dying!!! This is the single most entertaining email of the year. I've now made an executive decision on ur behalf that for the price of ur overly overpriced luxury items at Mai shops, u should start doing a comedy routine as a value add service to ur clients. I'm sure u could knock out a few thousand extra from a sheikha or two. They won't understand a word of it but I'm confident with the accent they'll assume ur the Queens jester or something. Come onnnnnn - I'll run the biscuit tray. What do u think???


From: NFD@jfdi.com
Sent: 04/05/2009 08:37 PM
To: Betty
Subject: Unstuffing + warehousing last 20'

Could only find this part email
_____________________________________________________
From: g.thegoat@forwarders.com
Sent: 29 April 2010
To: NFD
Subject: RE: warehousing damages

Hello NFD,

We agree to pay for everything and your relocation to Bahamas and a salary for life plus beer on tap and all of those missing biscuits,and what ever else etc etc + 1st class air travel

Despairingly looking

As the recession bites, every little penny counts. Suppliers are chasing everyday for their payment. We deal with more than hundred brands and so each day there would be at least minimum 10 Suppliers chasing for their payments as well as a few phone calls asking for the same. It is getting a bit stressful dealing with payments, a task which has been thrusted on to me apart from handling logistics, IT not to mention the job that I am suppose to be doing.... Planning Merchandise!

This morning a letter which landed on my desk however made me smile in the midst of all this. It started with .....

"Dear Sirs,
We are despairingly looking for your remittance for the following invoices....."

Beside it was a picture which spoke a thousand words. It simply made me laugh!

One day...

I step out of the office.....it's been a long day.

I just wanna go home....kick off my high heels.

Get something to eat.... watch a DVD perhaps.

The sight I see....takes my breath away.

Up in the sky, in perfect formation....the birds fly.

I wonder where they are flying to.

I only wish I was flying too!

Jai Ho!

Finally got to watch "Slumdog Millionaire" a film so talked of....thanks to my Boss who downloaded & copied it for me on to a USB! Jai Ho!

This is a film about a young man from the slums of Mumbai who goes on to win the Indian version of "Who wants to be a Millionaire?" He is arrested on the suspicipon of cheating in the show. While interrogating his life story is told and which in turn explains how he knew the answers to the questions. A film about money interwoven with love.

The film won 8 Oscars out of the 10 nominations. There has been some controversy about this film in India....about it's portrayal of India, Hinduism, persecution of Muslims as well as calling a slum dweller a Slumdog!

I liked the film...always for rags to riches romance! Always for the likes of Slumdogs....Underdogs....Jai Ho!